Making the Grade: Superstorm Sandy clean up on spring break

8 Pine Manor College students gave up their vacation to roll up their sleeves and help clean up a part of the NJ shore (Published Thursday, July 31, 2014)

(NECN: Bridge Blythe) - Superstorm Sandy was the deadliest and most destructive hurricane of the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season.

Its effects were most visible on the New Jersey Shore. These days, parts of that area remain vacant or destroyed.

"It was really surprising to know how much it had impacted the area," Anesha Weaver said. see how much it had impacted the area.

Anesha Weaver and Cassie Doble are two of eight Pine Manor College students who chose to give up a relaxing spring break in March to roll up their sleeves and get to work on the Jersey Shore to tear down homes impacted by Superstorm Sandy.

The trip is a component of an alternative spring break course Pine Manor College has been offering students for the past six years.

Latoya Johnson and Lisa Rodrigues led the students on the trip.

"We go there and we are of service to the community. Whatever they need us to do, that's what we are there to do for that week. You humble yourself and you just get down and do it," Johnson said.

And that's just what they did.

Anesha and Cassie were part of the demolition crew.

"I'm not a very strong person, so lifting crowbars and sledgehammers was not my ideal, but it was definitely worth the trip and doing what I did," Cassie said.

"I finished a whole bedroom by myself, so that was great," Anesha said.

Neither one of them had ever done anything like this before.

"If it wasn't for the volunteer groups that continue to go out there, a lot of their houses would be at a standstill," Rodrigues said.

During the week on the shore, students also met and worked with volunteers from other schools, developing long-lasting friendships and performing a community service they won't soon forget.

"It's worth it," Cassie says. "It might not be your ideal spring break, but it's definitely worth the trip to go help people that are in need."

And that's why these students at Pine Manor College are making the grade.